Him, Her, and Problems
by Bastion Halera
Summary: Winter is here, but none of them expected that this year's winter won't be like the years before! Bad summary indeed. Rated T just in case. The title is a bit irrelevant. An Akihisa X Himeji fic. May consist of other pairings in the future. CURRENTLY ON HIATUS UNTIL UNPREDICTABLE TIME.
1. Winter, competition, and mission?

Hello, Bastion speaking.

Well, maybe some of you...no, all of you are not familiar with me, since this was my first fanfic ever to be published.

But i've putted quite lot of effort in this one, and my longest story so far.

Building comments and criticsms are welcomed, but please go easy on a newbie like me Enjoy then!

Disclaimer: Even tough i want to, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu belongs to Kenji Inoue.

_(words in italics means what were they thinking in their minds or talking to themselves)_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 1<strong>

**Winter, competition, and...mission?**

It was another ordinary day at Fumizuki academy, except it was covered in snow as it was winter season already. Yuuji Sakamoto, the representative of class F, Just arrived at school with his childhood friend, Shouko Kirishima, who's clinging tightly into his arm. Following behind them is the person with unknown gender, Hideyoshi Kinoshita. As usual, he came early in the morning to have a practice with the drama club,

_It seems that Kirishima-san is always clinging to Yuuji, huh?_ Hideyoshi thought.

"If you clinged that hard, you'll break my arm. Will you please let me go already?" He asked, irritably.

"No." was all the answer he got from her.

"Really, now. It's hard to move around if you clinged to that-"

"Ahhhhhhh!" A loud scream echoed throughout the building, cutting Yuuji's at the middle of his sentence. Along with the scream, the person known as "The Punishment Bearer", Akihisa Yoshii, ran across the hallway with horror on his face.

"Oi, Akihis-" Yet again, another scream cutted his sentence. But this time, there were two shoutings.

"Come here, Akihisa-kun!"

"Get back here, Aki!"

And two familiar figures follow up, seems to be hunting down the person who happen to be passing by. It was Mizuki Himeji, the one with the long, fluffy pink hair with a bunny clip on the side, and Minami Shimada, the one with the maroon red hair in ponytail.

"…why is Himeji and Shimada chasing down Akihisa?"

* * *

><p>In the middle of the hallway, another member of class F, Kouta Tsuchiya, who's also known as 'Mutsurini', was about to enter the classroom. But his action was interrupted by the panting Akihisa behind him.<p>

"If *pant* Himeji-san *pant* and Minami came looking for me, please don't tell them that I went *pant* straight ahead, got it?"

"Got it."

"Okay, then I'll go on ahead." He said as he continues his escape. A moment later, the girls Akihisa was talking about shows up.

"Tsuchiya-kun, did you by any chance see Akihisa-kun coming this way?" Mizuki asked.

"Yes, he went straight ahead."

A faint shouting can be heard in the distance. It sounded more or less like this: "You're not helping at all!"

"Thanks, Tsuchiya-kun" With that, the two girls continue their chase for Akihisa. Meanwhile, Kouta was thinking hard of something.

_How come he managed to hear what I just said to the girls from such distance?_

* * *

><p>"Keh, because I was thinking Mutsurini would give them the wrong direction, I slowed down a bit! Now they're catching up with me."<p>

Just as he finished his thought, a pair of hands grabbed his shoulder tightly. Tight enough to crack his bone. Suddenly, he can feel an intense killing aura behind him.

"Akihisa-kun…."

"Aki…."

"Eh, can we talk about it, PEACEFULLY?" he said, underlining the last word. "No can do, Akihisa-kun." Mizuki said, making a creepy smile on her face. "Peace is nowhere to be found in my idiot-beating dictionary." Minami continued. Both of them are dead serious.

A moment later, yet again a scream broke through the whole building. This time was a boy screaming in pain that cannot be described with words.

That was the third scream of the day.

And it was still early in the morning.

* * *

><p>"Bad luck right from the start, eh?" Yuuji said, smirking to his beaten up classmate.<p>

"Shut up, Yuuji."

"I'm terribly sorry, Akihisa-kun1 I'm sorry! I didn't know if that was your older sister back there!" Mizuki said, apologizing to Akihisa while treating his injured body. Minami was nowhere to be seen in the classroom.

"But there's a thing I'm still confused about." Hideyoshi asked. "Why did you and Shimada start chasing him at the first place?" Hearing this question, Mizuki could only blush.

Basically, this morning, Akihisa's older sister, Akira, dropped Akihisa at the school. At about the same time, Mizuki and Minami was also just arrived at school. Unfortunately, before leaving for work, Akira kissed Akihisa on the cheek. Unluckily, the girls didn't know if it was Akira. Seeing this, Mizuki and Minami simply got jealous, and start chasing Akihisa, not bothering to ask about the girl that kissed him before. Of course, they won't admit the fact that they're jealous.

"Can we change the subject please?" Akihisa started.

"Eh, I have something to ask you, Sakamoto-kun." Mizuki spoke.

"What is it?"

"Can you do s-something to make this room warmer? I-It's freezing in here."

No one can doubt that. With the glass being broken and full with holes, the cold winter breeze can easily get in to the room and lower the temperature in the classroom.

"Now that you said that, it really is cold in here. But I hope you guys can bear with it. There's nothing we can do about it since our class fund is not enough to repair those broken glass. Wearing a jacket is the best we can do." Yuuji said.

Mizuki than moved to the back of the classroom and sat there, hugging herself to keep her body warm. _Why did I have to forget to bring my jacket at times like this?_ Mizuki said to herself. _If only someone could lend me their jacket…_

God seemed to be listening to her wish. She could feel a pair of hand putting a jacket over her back and shoulders. Curious, she turned to see the person kind enough to lend her a jacket.

"Akihisa-kun?"

"It must be cold without using a jacket, isn't it? Here, you can use mine."

"Eh? But, what about yourself, Akihisa-kun?"

"Well, it sure is cold without a jacket, but your frail body needs the jacket more than my body does. I don't want you to be sick from the cold breeze. School's boring without you, you know!" He said, smiling to her.

Hearing what he just said, Mizuki's face turned bright red. "T-Thanks, Akihisa-kun" She thanked him while trying to hide her red face from Akihisa. _He knows that his body would be freezing without a jacket. But still, he lends me his jacket…that's very nice of you, Akihisa-kun..._she thought with a smile on her face. She then putted on Akihisa's jacket.

_No wonder I could have a crush on you…_she added to herself.

* * *

><p>The bell rang, meaning the lesson is about to begin, when suddenly, the intercom made an announcement.<p>

"Good morning, students and teacher. Before we start our lesson, I would like to inform you about a school contest. To bring up the Christmas spirit, our school seasonal committee agreed that we will be holding a Christmas class decorating contest. So for today, all class is dismissed and you may take your time to decorate your class as good as you can."

"Can't we just go home? I don't want to be at school at times like this…' Akihisa pouted, not even bothering to listen to the announcement.

"The winner of this contest will receive a FREEclass trip to the well known onsen resort." The speaker added.

Akihisa's eyes suddenly sparkled. "We must win that special trip, NO MATTER WHAT!" Well, it is a common reaction, tough. Who doesn't get excited after hearing the word 'free', 'trip' and 'onsen' in the middle of the winter season?

And just like that, class F decorated their class with all the Christmas ornaments they have. Socks, bells, and mistletoe can be seen in the entire classroom. Everybody is busy looking for decorations, or where to put decorations on. All of that took at least 3 hours to get it done.

"Phew, nicely done guys. With this, we could possibly win!" Yuuji said.

Mizuki's eyes lit up in excitement. "This is the most beautiful classroom I've ever been to in my entire life!"

"It sure is, Mizuki." Minami responded, just as excited as Mizuki.

"We will win for sure!" Akihisa said with confidence.

* * *

><p>The next day was somehow different than any other day. Maybe it was because the sun who chose to show up despite of the the falling snow. Somehow this made the temperature to rise, making that day relatively warm compared to the other day.<p>

Along the way to the school, a wide smile spreaded across Akihisa's face. His mind was fully loaded on his imagination about the special trip. He was expecting his class to be the winner of the competition. No, he was thinking that his class had won the competiton, and he already made the list of activites to do there. Sadly, all he got from going to school early that day was a shocking news.

"What? We lost to class A?" Yes, this was indeed a shock for class F, especially for the overexcited Akihisa, since they have used all their might on decorating their class the day before, and they still lose to another class.

"What a pity. It seems like luck is not on our side this time."

"Agreed, Hideyoshi. Luck seems to have slipped from our hand indeed."

In the middle of the class, lied the now spiritless Akihisa. The news of their lost was just to shocking that he cannot bear it anymore and his spirit gone loose. It was a good thing that Mutsurini caught his spirit and put it back to his body before it flew any further. "Cheer up Aki. At least we got second place." Minami said while she patted Akihisa's back, trying to comfort him.

"Second place gets nothing! Why in the world I should cheer up?"

Just as Minami was about to break Akihisa's spine (she thought that it could cheer him up, which actually it would kill him instead.), the principal entered the classroom.

"Ah, excuse me, but I need the people whose name is on this list to come with me: Akihisa Yoshii, Mizuki Himeji, Minami Shimada, Yuuji Sakamoto, Hideyoshi Kinoshita, and Kouta Tsuchiya. That would be all." The six of them then followed the principal to her office.

"So why do you want us to come with you?"

"It's simple. I want the six of you to go that onsen along with class A."

And suddenly, everybody became silent.

"Wh-wh-wha-wha-what did you say? You want us to come along with class A to that onsen? Akihisa's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"You heard me loud and clear. And you will also get the same treatment as class A."

"But there's must be something else, isn't it, principal-san?" Kouta asked as if he already knows that there is something behind all this.

"You will know when the time has come. I'll give you a hint: it's a mission."

"Mission?" they asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, and I have also asked some students from class A to be in this mission too, such as Kirishima Shouko, Aiko Kudou, and Yuuko Kinoshita." The principal explained. "I bet you guys already familiar with them, so there won't be any difficulties in working together, right?"

"But why do you pick us, members of the class F, of all students? There is a lot more students with better grades than us." Minami spoke up.

"Reliability."

"Huh?"

"The nine of you, including the three from class A, is the most reliable students in the whole school. I knew that from all of your actions. The truth is, I've been watching all of you since your first day at this school."

And there came the silence again.

"Okay, that is all I want to say to you. You may go back to your class. Remember, all of you will be going there on the 23rd of December, along with class A."

* * *

><p>"Now that was a bit shocking. We decorated our class, and we got a mission in return. How weird." All of them agreed to what Yuuji have said.<p>

"But we get to go there together. Isn't it great to be on a trip with your friends? I'm really excited!" That's what Mizuki said. But at the back of her mind, there is one main reason why she is so excited. _I will be going on a trip with Akihisa-kun (and the others)! Yay!_She is indeed the type that couldn't hold in her excitement. Just like a kid on the night before his first day of elementary school.

And Minami?

She was at the girl's toilet, blushing hard just from thinking about what might happen between her and Akihisa on the trip. "Me, Akihisa, the others, onsen, Christmas…" Smoke emitted from her ears. It was just too much for her brain to handle.

"What can we do about it? It's the principal who gave us that mission."

"You're right, Hideyoshi. All we can do now is preparing ourselves for that mission. We don't want to dissapoint the principal, right?" Everyone nodded after hearing Yuuji's statement.

And just like that, time flows by. It was the 23rd of December already before they could realize it.

Somehow, the weather seemed to be preventing them from going to the onsen. Altough it was the middle of the winter, the rain poured heavily that day, soaking most part of the town.

"Is everyone here yet?"

"No, we're still missing Mizuki."

Then, speak of the devil, Mizuki came to them, her clothes soaked wet and her body almost visible through her clothes. Seeing her now-soaked-in-water figure, both of Kouta and Akihisa almost died from blood loss, thanks to their perverted minds.

"Mizuki, look at yourself! What happened?" Minami helped her with her bag, which was also wet from the rain.

"Well, actually I already headed here way ahead from our meeting time, but on my way here suddenly the rain poured and i had to look for someplace to wait until the rain stopped. But since it was almost our meeting time, I decided to run through the rain, resulting this to me."

"I suggest you quickly change your clothes or you'll get sick if you keep wearing those wet clothes any longer."

"That was what I was going to do now, Shouko-chan." She grabbed another pair of clothes from her bag and headed to the restroom.

Not long after that, she returned to where the rest of her friends are.

"Sorry for making all of you wait."

"Okay, since all of us has gathered here, shall we get going?"

And all of them went for train and headed towards their destination.

END OF CHAPTER

* * *

><p>Just in case, onsen is a hot spring bath in japan.<p>

Again, building comments and criticisms are welcomed. Hope to hear a lot from you guys.

~Bastion~


	2. Journey, fever, and discussion

Hello, Bastion again speaking.

Sorry it took me some time for the second chapter. You know, school works.

But the second chapter is up! So..Enjoy then!

Disclaimer: Even tough i want to, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu belongs to Kenji Inoue.

_(words in italics means what were they thinking in their minds or talking to themselves)_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 2<strong>

**Journey, fever, and discussion.**

Onboard, along their way to the onsen, there were not much to see. Usually there is a lot to see, but since it was raining heavily that time, there were hardly anything than could be seen from inside the train.

"You know what, Yuuji?"

"What?"

"It sure is a long trip to get there. We've been sitting in this train for 3 hours, and it's still halfway there."

Yuuji patted his shoulder. "You're lucky, Akihisa. At least you didn't get to seat with a girl who alyways bring a taser with her all the time. Be thankf-...ARRGGGHHH!" And with that painful scream, Yuuji turned into Ashes. "I won't tolerate any bad things about me coming from your mouth." Shouko expalined plainly.

"Leaving Yuuji aside...Minami, Himeji-san, both of you looked really cute today." Akihisa said out of nowhere. This resulted in both of their faces heated up.

"D-Don't say weird things like that so suddenly, you idiot!"

"D-Do you really think so, Akihisa-kun?"

"I'm not saying anything weird. I mean, your clothes is a perfect match for your body, Himeji-san. And you too Minami, altough you're bit flat on the ch-GAAAAHHHHHH!"

"You didn't need to point that out!"

"Wait, Minami! That joint doesn't turn that way!"

A second later, a cracking sound came out from Akihisa's body.

"Girls nowadays really are dangerous.." Hideyoshi said with a little voice.

"Thank goodness you're not like that, Hideyoshi."

"What do you mean, Mutsurini? And I'm a boy!"

While they're still in the middle of their argument, a waitress came and interrupted their argument. "Excuse me, but is there by any chance someone of you with the name Akihisa Yoshii?"

"Huh? Me? What is it?"

"Your principal called and she wanted to talk to to you." She expalined, handing Akihisa the phone.

"Hello, Yoshii speaking."

"_Ahh, Yoshii. Good thing I dialed the right number. Let's make this short. For some reasons, there were an unexpected turn of events. The mission I entrusted to the six of you has been canceled._"

It took Akihisa a few seconds to digest the words he just heared. One he got a grasp of the situation, he suddenly flinched, surprising the rest of them.

"WHAT?"

"_Calm down, will you?_"

"Then that means...our trip...the onsen..." He responded with disbelief.

"_Well, I was thinking to send you back here to the school, but since all of you have been halfway through your journey to the onsen, I tought it would be better to let you guys continue with your trip along with class 2-A. I'll handle the accomodation for the six of you. Enjoy your trip._"

With that, she ended the call. Akihisa was still holding the phone in his hand, a small smile on his face.

"So, what is it, Akihisa?" Yuuji asked.

"I'll make this quick. Our mission is canceled, and we get to continue our trip along with class 2-A."

It took them a few seconds to digest what Akihisa said before they rejoiced over the news.

* * *

><p>After another 2 hours of sitting in the train, they finally arrived at their destination. The trip took about 5 hours long in total. So, after they arrived there, they immidately left for the onsen. Surprisingly, the place where they will spend their nights at was quite luxurious. They were to exhasuted from the journey to notice the luxurious place, tough. So they directly went to the receptionist.<p>

"Ummmm, that was one long journey we got there, not counting the 10 minute bus from the station."

"It was also painful. For me."

"Serves you right! It's your fault for pointing things that not supposed to be pointed!"

"Hey, all I did back there was only telling the truth, which was that you are flat che- GUUUUUHHHHHH! And now it's his skull's turn to be crushed.

"You don't need to say that again!"

"Calm down, Minami-chan! If you keep doing that, you would kill Akihisa-kun!" As this thing was happening, Akihisa's spirit almost got out from his body again.

"Can you guys stop the bickering, please? I'm trying to talk to the receptionist here."

After a few minutes, Yuuji came back to the group with some keys in his hand. "Okay, so we have about three double rooms, that's for two person each, and one single room."

"I'll take the single room." Kouta then immidiately took the key and went to his room, not even bothering to argue with the others.

"Yuuji, You'll sleep with me."

"Why should I? I don't want-ARRRRGGGHHHH!" Shouko shocked him again with her taser. "We'll take one of the double rooms." She then went to her room, dragging the unconsious Yuuji behind her.

"Then, I'll sleep with Akihisa-" Before Hideyoshi could finish his sentence, they were shocked by the nearly collapsed Mizuki. Luckily, she managed to prevent herself from falling by grabbing onto Akihisa's shoulder.

"Himeji-san? Are you alright? You looked kind of sick."

"I'm okay, you don't need to worry about me.." She replied, taking heavy breath between each words she said. Minami immidiately put her hand to Mizuki's forehead. "Her forehead is warm, she clearly has caught a fever from running through the rain this morning." It was an undeniable that she has one weak body, yet she still pushed herself to ran through the rain. No wonder she caught a fever.

"So, one of us need to take care of her, right?"

"Yes, but I didn't bring any medicine with me..."

"Me neither.."

Akihisa then wrap his hand around Mizuki's shoulders, supporting her body to keep standing. "I'll take care of her. You guys can just go and get some rest."

"Is that okay with you, Akihisa? You must be tired too from our journey here too, right?"

"It's alright, Hideyoshi. I'm not really that tired."

"Eh..but, what about Minami-chan?"

"Don't worry, Mizuki. I'll sleep with Hideyoshi tonight." Suddenly, Minami leaned towards Mizuki's ear. "You thought I would get jealous with you sleeping with Aki tonight, right?" She nodded. "I'll let this slide this time. You were sick, so it must be the our priority to take care of you. Just get some rest, ok?"

"Well, if you're done with your talk, we'll be going to our room, then. See you tommorow." Akihisa then walked towards his room, with Mizuki's on his side, struggling to keep standing. Minami just watched the two of them from the distance.

A moment after they parted from Hideyoshi and Minami, Mizuki said something. "You can let go now, Akihisa-kun. I can walk by myself.." She then tried to walk by herself, and fell down a second later."

"Look, you're really sick, so don't push yourself too hard, Himeji-san." He said, worried look on his face.

"No, it's really al-" Her sentence were cutted in the middle, because Akihisa suddenly picked her up and carried her, bridal style. "A-Akihisa-kun?" A tint of red was visible on her face by now.

"It's clear that you're really sick that it's already hard for you just to balance yourself, not even talking about walking by yourself, so I'll carry you to our room."

She cannot come up with anything to make him put her down, so she could only apologized. "S-Sorry for causing you so much trouble by carrying me, Akihisa-kun."

"Don't sweat it. I don't feel troubled at all, actually. It's just that...I don't want any of my friends to get sick, especially they who were really excited about this trip, that's all."

Mizuki face's color changed into a very bright red right after hearing what Akihisa just said. _He..he remembered that I was very excited about this trip back then? _

Who could have forgotten seeing a very excited pink haired girl, anyway?

* * *

><p>Once they have reached their room, Akihisa was about to put Mizuki down on the bed. Unfortunately, his feet was somehow strangled up. "Oh no." Both of them fell on the bed, with Akihisa on top and Mizuki on the bottom, pinned in the arms by Akihisa's hands. Their nose were barely an inch away.<p>

Akihisa's face turned tomato red. And Mizuki, whose face was already red from her fever, got even more redder from the blush.

"Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa!" Akihisa backed away from Mizuki's face. "I'm really sorry, Himeji-san! I didn't mean to do that!" Mizuki herself was confused. She didn't know what should she said after seeing his reaction. Finally, she spoke. "I-It's okay, Akihisa-kun. You don't need to overreact like that."

After that, came an awkward silence between them for about a minute or two. Trying to break the ice, Akihisa spoke up. "I-I'll get the medicine for your fever."

Not a minute a later, Akihisa came back with the medicine and a glass of water. "Here, drink this. Hopefully this will bring your temperature down, back to normal." She took the glass from hisa hand and drank the medicine. "Thanks, Akihisa-kun."

"Now let's get some rest. Cover yourself with this blanket so your body won't get cold. If you need my help, just wake up. I'll be sleeping on the couch."

"Okay." She pulled the blanket that Akihisa gave until it covered her whole body.

Akihisa immideately moved to the couch and positioned himself to sleep. After about 5 minutes, he was almost asleep when he heared Mizuki calling his name.

"Um, Akihisa-kun?"

"What's the matter, Himeji-san?"

"Uhm, It is..kind of lonely to sleep alone here.."

"Uh-huh. And?"

"So..could you...sleep on the bed..with me?" She was sure that her face was blushing like mad at that time. _God, what were you thinking, Mizuki? There's no way he'll do that!_ Mizuki questioned herself for asking such embrassing thing.

"Ehm..if you want me to, then...sure."

She almost passed out hearing his answer. _What? H-He said yes! _

She then moved a bit to give Akihisa some place. As he shoved into the bed, she turned her body to the other way around, too embarassed to see his face.

"S-Sorry for asking such a silly request, Akihisa-kun..."

"Silly? I didn't see anything silly in your request. If I were you, I probably have asked the same thing too. It's a bit lonely to sleep by yourself." He smiled to her back.

"..." Mizuki was lost of words. She didn't know what to say to respond him.

"Hooahmm, it's already getting late. If we don't sleep soon, we won't wake up tomorrow morning. Night, Himeji-san."

"G-Goodnight, Akihisa-kun."

* * *

><p>The warm ray from the sun shone through the window and above her body, waking her up in the process. It was morning already. The night passed quickly, since both of them slept prety late the night before.<p>

Mizuki then moved her hand to her forehead to check her temperature. It seems the medicine from the night before has don it's job to lower her temperature. Just as she was about to move from the bed, she realizes what position her body is in. Her body was curled up into a ball, with her head buried to Akihisa's chest. To top it up, Akihisa seemed to unconsciously hugged her with one of his hand in his sleep, preventing her from moving.

This caused her face to heat up. If anyone saw them in that position, they would think of them as a couple sharing the same bed togeher. Trying to wake him up, she moved a bit so that her face would be on the same level as his, and called his name in a small voice.

"Akihisa-kun.."

No respond.

"Akihisa-kun..." this time, a bit louder.

Still no respond.

"Akihisa-kun..." she said even louder.

He was still sleeping peacfully.

Since he was not giving any sign he would woke up anytime soon, she decided to do the only thing she could at that time: examine his sleeping face. Soon she found herself smiling at the sight in front of her. His mouth that were slightly opened, and the sound of his breath was somehow relaxing for her. She started to ran her hand through his hair, occasionally twirling his hair with her hand.

_I'm really lucky to have shared the night in the same bed as him... And I would be lying if I said I want to move from this position..._

Just as soon as she finished her train of toughts, Akihisa's other hand grabbed a hold of Mizuki's back and hugged her even tighter, making it even harder for her to move.

"Mhhh...Himeji-san..." He mumbled slowly in his sleep, still locking her petite body in his arms.

This made her heart skip a beat. _Eh? Was he...dreaming about me?_ Before she could try to woke him up again, a knock on the door had done the job for her.

"Hiyah!" Mizuki let out a small, startled scream.

Thanks to that knocking, Akihisa woke up on the floor because he was pushed from the bed by the startled Mizuki. "Ah! I-I'm sorry Akihisa-kun! Are you alright?"

"Ouch, yeah, I'm pretty much alright..." He responded while rubbing his back. And there came the second knock. "Coming!" Akihisa then went to the door, opened it, and found Minami outside. "Just how long are you two planning to sleep?"

"Haha, sorry, I think we overslept."

"Huh? Stayed up late? What did you do last night? You didn't do anything weird to Mizuki, did you?" She said, narrowing her eyes and inching closer to Akihisa. "Wha-what are you talking about, Minami? Of course I won't do such a thing! Who do you think I am? A pervert?"

"An idiot pervert, to be exact."

"I lost my pride as a human..." He slumped to the floor.

"Well, I'll will be going back to the restaurant. The other have all gathered there, so don't make us wait too long." Minami left and headed to the restaurant.

"Well, Akihisa-kun?"

"It was Minami. She told us to get dressed and headed to the restaurant The rest has been waiting for us. Oh, and by the way, how's your body doing?"

"Ah, my temperature has went down since last night. Looks like the medicine had worked while we were asleep."

"That's good to hear. Now let's get dressed and headed to the restaurant. You don't want to make them wait, do you?"

She nodded.

* * *

><p>"Sorry for making all of you wait."<p>

"No need to apologize, Himeji. We didn't wait that long, really."

"So," Akihisa took a seat between Minami and Mizuki. "Why none of us take a food from the buffet counter?"

"Because we are not going to have breakfast yet." Yuuji said, crossing his arms.

"Then what are we doing here, exactly?"

"I just happen to notice that we didn't make any plan on what are we going to do while we are here. So that's why I want to discuss this with you guys."

"Somehow it sounds important yet not really important altogether in my ears..."

"Shut up, Akihisa. Anybody have a suggestion?"

Kouta raised his hand. "How about executing your plan again?"

"Which one?"

"The one about peeking the girl's bat-KUHHH!" He was cutted mid-sentence by a fist straight to his face, which happened to be Yuuko's.

"I won't tolerate any perverted activities."

"Really, Ane-ue?" This time it's Hideyoshi. "You said that while you yourself read 'that' kind of book all the time."

Yuuko grabbed him by his collar and started dragging him away from the rest of them. "Sorry guys, it seems like I need to do a little 'talk' with my brother. We'll join again later."

"Eh? Where are we going, Ane-ue? And what are going to tal-AAAAHHHH! My arm doesn't bend like that!" The hopeless cry of Hideyoshi echoed through the room as he was dragged away by his sister to the alleyway. The rest of them could only sweatdropped as they witnessed the scene before their very eyes.

"Anymore suggestion?" Yuuji asked again, ignoring what just happened.

"Actually," Aiko raised her hand. "Last night I found out on the web that there is a small village, just 15 minutes walk from here, and they are holding some kind of winter festival around this time of the year."

"Really, Aiko-san? That's great then! Why don't we visit that village for today?" Mizuki exclaimed, looking very excited. "Yeah, let's go there!" Minami followed, just as excited as her pink haired bestfriend.

"Why not? Maybe that's just what we were looking for." Yuuhi responded. "But let's have a breakfast first before we go there, since we might spend the whole day there." All them agreed to what Yuuji said. Just then, Yuuko came back, dragging the now lifeless Hideyoshi on her back.

"Sorry, it took longer than I tought." She said, wiping a red liquid, presumably blood, away from her cheek. "Did we miss something?"

None them didn't know how to respond.

"Yuuko, there's still some blood on your cheek."

"Ah, thank you, captain."

"How can you respond like that in this kind of situation, Shouko?"

"Because I didn't find that weird, Yuuji."

"I wonder how your brain works..."

"W-well, then let's grab some food, have breakfast, and headed to our destination before noon." Akihisa said, breaking the awkward atmosphere.

After having breakfast, and after Hideyoshi recovered, they left to the village Aiko said.

* * *

><p>Nothing much to say, actually.<p>

Review please!

~Bastion~


	3. Festival, Sake, and a socalled death

Yo. Bastion here.

Before anyone tried to kill me, I'm really, really sorry for the very late update.

The story was actually finished months ago, but I think there's something missing, so I checked it over and over and over..until I forget about :p

Again, Please don"t kill me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Baka and test.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**Festival, Sake, and a so-called death.**

The walk to the village really did take about 15 minutes of walking, just like what Aiko told them. As they reach the village, there were already a lot of people there, but somehow it didn't feel crowded at all. The whole village was covered in flaky white snow, and there were also a lot of stands there, like merchandise stands, games stands, food stall, and others stands. At the middle of the village there was also a giant Christmas tree, fully decorated with Christmas themed ornaments.

"Hwa, amazing..."

Minami eyes sparkled in astonishment. A winter festival was not a common sight for the Japanese itselves, therefore it's not weird for a girl who spent most of her childhood in Germany to react like that, right?

Even Mizuki, who was born and raised in Japan, had the same reactions.

"See? My idea to come here was not bad at all!" Aiko raised her head, proud of herself.

"And since this village is quite big, maybe it will took us some time to look around the whole place." Hideyoshi started. "Which is good to kill time."

"Anyway, you guys could go anywhere you want and meet again here, okay?"

"Okay." The rest of them answered.

"So, Akihisa-kun, where do you want to go first?"

"Uh, well, I don't really now where to go, so I guess I'll just follow you. Maybe I'll ask Minami to join us. Oi, Minami, do you want to-huh? Where's Minami?"

"She dashed just now to no-one-knows where." Hideyoshi responded, lifting his shoulders.

"Kuh, that girl can be really childish at times."

"Hi hi, If she didn't act like that upon seeing this kind of place, than that's not the Minami-chan we know, right, Akihisa-kun?"

"Couldn't agree more with you."

"Well then, I'll go ahead with Akihisa-kun" she then grabbed Akihisa's hand and drag him behind her, leaving the rest behind her.

"I'll go that way then." Kouta picked up his camera. "There seems to be a lot of pretty girls that way." He dashed off with his ninja-like moves before anyone could make any comment.

"Urgh, that Muttsurini. Then, I'll follow him to make sure he doesn't do anythi-huh? What in the world is... " His words were cutted by a clicking metal sound coming from somewhere near his wrist. When he take a look at his wrist, he found something that looked like a...handcuffs. With the other and being cuffed onto Shouko's wrist.

"ARRRRGGGHHHH! What did you with my wrist?!"

"...You won't go anywhere without me by your side, Yuuji."

"Being with you is already scary, not even talking about cannot getting away from you! Give me the key!"

"...Never."

"Oi, Shouko, why won't you liste-GAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"...That should calm him down." She said calmy as she hold the taser in her hands. "What about you two, Aiko, Yuuko? Are you coming with us or do you want to go separate ways?"

The two of them waved their hands to reject that offer. "Maybe we'll go this way." They said simultaneously.

* * *

><p>"Looks like this is the gifts and merchandise area." Mizuki said as she examined the place they're at. A lot of stands, big and small, could be seen around them, and most of them are selling goodies rather than food.<p>

"Anyone could tell that just by looking." Akihisa responded.

They took a walk to see an interesting stand to visit. After walking around for a while, a stand catches Mizuki's eyes.

"Hey, Akihisa-kun. Let's see that stand over there." She walked to th stand that she pointed, along with Akihisa following behind her.

The stand itself was not that big, but not too small either. The stand sells a lot of merchandise, like bracelet, earings, even bags. All nicely arranged in separate shelves, making it easy to find things.

"Uwah, there are a lot of cute things here..."

"Do you like cute things that much, Himeji-san?"

"Yes! I love them very much!"

Just then, the shopkeeper appeared out from behind the stand. She looked like in her early 30's, with a long, wavy, light gray hair.

"Oh, what do we have here. Such nice young couple." She said with a smile on her face.

_COUPLE?_ The same words rang through the so-called couple heads, making they blush in the process.

"N-No, no, w-we're not g-going out o-or anything." Akihisa answered, stuttering. Mizuki just looked down, trying to hide her blushing face.

"Eh? Really? Aw, that's dissapointing. You two make such a cute couple, you know."

That words just made their face boiling red. As for Mizuki, smokes appeared to have emitted from her ears due to her blushing.

"H-Himeji-san, I'll go see other stands, o-okay?"

"O-Okay."

They just couldn't handle embarassement very well, seeing from their stuttering words.

"So, have you found something you like?" The shopkeeper lady asked.

"Well, I still don't see something eye-" her sentence stopped when she noticed something that caught her attention. She then moved toward that thing and picked it up. It was a silver bracelet with a golden brown pattern on it, and a light brown orb hanging on it.

"Beautiful.." she muttered to herself. _And the color somehow...reminds me of Akihisa-kun..._

"Oh, does that thing caught your attention?" asked the shopkeeper lady. Mizuki nodded in reply.

"Then that bracelet must have remind you of someone important for you, right? Let me guess...that young boy from before, perhaps?"

A slight tint of red emitted from her cheeks. _Eh? H-how did she know?_ "Hwa?" She lifted her head to see the shopkeeper lady. She just didn't know how to respond with words, too shocked from having her mind read by someone else.

"Oh, you don't need to be surprised like that. That is clearly shown on your face back when you're blushing from being thought as a couple, you know. Oh, maybe you should check the shelf name."

"Shelf name?" Dumbfounded, she stood up a bit to read the label the lady was pointing. "The...Reminders?"

"Yup. Just like it's name suggest, everything there somehow always reminded us of the person that we care the most. A lot of my previous customers also had similar reactions to yours. And it seems like that bracelet just remind you of someone, judging from how you reacted upon noticing that bracelet."

_The person..that we care the most, eh?_ She nodded again to the lady. She brought the bracelet to her face, and smiled at that bracelet. "So, how much this bracelet cost, 'mam?"

"Oh, that one's free. You can take it."

"Eh? Really?"

"As far as I remember, that bracelet had been lying there since the time I opened my shop here. And I couldn't even tell anymore if the brown on it is it's original colour or rust. Also, I don't think that someone other than you would buy it anytime soon."

"B-but.."

"Don't worry, I don't think that is much of a loss."

"I-If you said so, then I'll take this one. Thank you very much, 'mam." She bowed to the lady, just as polite as ever. "I'll be going then." She turned around and waved at the lady.

The lady waved back at her. "Remember, you two make such cute couple!" She could saw Mizuki blushed from the distance before she finally dissapeared among the crowd.

Not long after that, a small girl holding a teddy bear come from inside the house. "Mom, isn't that the bracelet that daddy gave you before he died?"

The lady patted her daughter's head. "Sweetie, you know the bracelet that your dad gave to me, right?

"Uh-huh."

"That bracelet turns out to have a charm in it. It is believed to give the holder a good luck in love. I let her take that because I think she will needed that charm."

"I don't get it, Mommy."

"Hihi." She giggled at her daughter. "Don't worry too much about it. You will understand that once you grow up."

"Okay." She walked back to the house.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, let's move back to Akihisa.<p>

"Um..."

He looked around to see something that he notice.

"Uh..."

Which he failed miserably.

"...Where the hell am I?"

He was officialy lost.

It was not like he had a bad sense of direction. But all this time he relied on his pure luck to choose which route he should take. Maybe he didn't realize how unlucky he is.

"Gah, I should've taken a map along with me!"

Now, since he was lost in a strangers village, he could only walked around randomly until he found one of his friends. While he was walking with no direction at all, he just realized how peaceful the village was. Everyone, both villagers and tourists, seemed to be enjoying themselves to their fullest.

But that was before he hitted somebody.

"Ahh!"

"Ah, sorry 'mam. My mista-wait." He stopped talking as he saw the face of the person he crashed into. "Himeji-san?"

"Akihisa-kun! Oh, it really is you! I'm very worried about you!" She unconsciously jumped at him, embracing him into a hug while making him fell in the process, which not only caused him to blushed, but also attracting some attention from the pedestrians "Hi-Himeji-san?"

"Just where have you been, Akihisa-kun? I just couldn't find you anywhere! I'm very worried!"

He didn't make any response, but instead he was digesting what she just said, word by word.

_That's strange..she seemed to be bit too...talkative. And a bit hysterical too, which is just not like her._

"Akihisa-kun? Is there something wrong?" She noticed him staring at her.

"Ah, no, it was just that-" He then realized something. Her face was bright red.

He then examine her body to find something suspicious. This time, he found something on her hand. "Himeji-san, can I take look at that paper cup in your hand?"

"Of course. Here." She handed him the paper cup she was holding. He immidiately sniffed the cup, and noticed a very familiar scent from the paper cup.

"Himeji-san, what did you drink before I crashed into you?"

"Just an orange juice from the drunken old guy from the sake stand that I visited before."

That expalined all of her weird behaviour. Sake is similar to orange juice in terms of colour. The old guy probably mistook the sake for orange juice and offered it to Himeji-san, which has a surprisingly low alchohol tolerance. And do not forget that the old guy is also drunk. He possibly mistook the sake for orange juice.

"Himeji-san, you've just drink a cup of sake."

"What are you talking about, Akihisa-kun? That clearly was orange juice."

"No, you are wrong. That was a cup of sake."

"That was not a sake, Akihisa-kun."

"It was a sake."

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it w-"

"Do I need to repeat myself, Akihisa-kun?"

"No, 'mam."

The drunken Himeji-san is the last person he would want to talk or a have an argument with. The drunken Himeji-san is not only more arrogant, but also more persistent, less caring and has no common sense at all. And to top it of, somehow, she won't stop smiling as she talks, whatever the subject is, which make her even...scarier.

"So, Akihisa-kun." She said as she dusted her clothes.

"Y-yes?"

She lifted his arm up, and then, for who-knows-why reason, she immidiately locked their arms together, making them looked like what the commoners nowadays call "Couple".

"Shall we started walking around again?"

"Okay, but d-do we have to walk around.." he pointed his arm that was locked into hers. "...like this?"

"There's nothing wrong with us walking together like this, right?"

"Well, this is just kind of-"

"Or maybe.." she looked away from him for a moment before turning back to face him. "...you don't like it when you do this with me?"

_Gah! It's cute girl's secret weapon: Puppy dog eyes! It was really not like you to go even this far, Himeji-san! You are completely drunk!_

"Ah, nonononononono! I-it's definitely not like that! I didn't trying to say that I hate your idea of walking together like this!"

"Then there's no problem if we walk like this, right?" She switched back to her 'happy-go-lucky drunken girl' face.

_I would be very inhumane if I could still say no after I saw that face of yours before..._

He gave up trying to get her off of him, and just let her to do what she wanted to, which was the best thing he could do to handle her when she's drunk.

_But I didn't said that I'm not enjoying this, did I?_

* * *

><p>"Huh, finally I could give some rest to my tired legs. It feels like they will come off anytime now." He said as he slumped down to the nearby bench, with the pink-haired girl in his arms, sleeping soundly.<p>

He turned his head a bit, looking to the girl at his side. He blushed a bit seeing the situation he's in. _There's no doubt that people will think of us as a couple if they saw us like this. Good thing minami isn't here to see this, unless I would've been dea-_

"AAAAAAAKIIIIIIIIIII!"

_Maybe I spoke a bit too soon._

As he said that, he was sent flying by the truly-deadly-and-painful-but-somehow-won't-kill-you-and-could-sent-you-flying-without-making-the-girl-besides-you-moved-an-inch kick.

And as he landed, he scraped the ground for quite a distance.

_See? I spoke too soon alright._

"That's as far as I let you go, sir. I left you for not even a hour and you already doing something indecent to Mizuki?"

"Did my face looked like I'm doing something indecent to her?"

"You blushed while having your arms locked in hers. That's enough reason for me to beat you to death." Minami took out her cellphone from her pocket, and phoned someone.

"Hello? Yes, it's Minami. That's right, this idiot was about to do something indecent to Mizuki. Good thing I stopped him before he acts. Now, I'll need your help to punish this idiot." She finished her call and put her cellphone back to where it was.

"Did you call something like SWAT to punish me?"

"SWAT? No, I won't be that hard on you..."

Seconds later, a helicopter came hovering right above them. There seems to be some people in cloth covering their whole body, readying themselves to jump from the helicopter.

"...I just called for the FFF."

_Maybe my life ends here...today_ is what Akihisa had in mind before the FFF rushed at him mercilessly.

* * *

><p>Pretty much a hangover, huh? Just how much I love hangover :<p>

Stay tuned for future updates!

~Bastion~


End file.
